History

1493 drawing of Erfurt

Old synagogue (oldest one in Europe)

Old university (1392)

Citadel on Petersberg

Town hall

Angermuseum

main station

Christmas market

Mariendom at night

Wenigemarkt square

Erfurt was first mentioned in 742 under the name of
"Erphesfurt". It was an important trading town during the Middle Ages near a ford across the Gera river. Together with
the other five Thuringian woad-towns of Gotha, Tennstedt, Arnstadt and Langensalza it was the centre of the
German woad
trade.

In 1349, during the wave of pogroms which followed the Black Death across
Europe, the Jews of Erfurt were rounded up, with more than 100
killed and the rest driven from the city. Recently, the medieval synagogue has been
discovered beneath newer buildings, and is being restored
(completion expected 2009). In 1392, the University of Erfurt, where Martin Luther was
matriculated, was founded. One of the leading German universities
for many centuries, it fell upon hard times in the early 19th
Century, and was forced to close in 1816. It was refounded in 1994
by the Thuringian state parliament and has regained its status as a
leading German academic and research institution.

Main
sights

Erfurt has preserved an intact medieval city centre. The city is
known for its two churches, Erfurt Cathedral (Mariendom)
and Severikirche, which stand side by side and together
form the emblem of the city. Both churches tower above the
townscape and are accessible via huge open stairs called
Domstufen. Another remarkable site is the Krämerbrücke, a bridge crossing the narrow
Gera River. The bridge is covered with 32 inhabited buildings. It
was built in 1325 with a church on either bridgehead, one of which,
the Ägidienkirche, is still functional. The
Augustinerkloster is an old Augustinian monastery. Martin Luther
studied at the university and lived in the Augustinerkloster for a
few years after 1505.

The sociologist Max
Weber was born in Erfurt,[2] and the
theologian and philosopher Meister Eckhart was Prior of Erfurt's
Dominican Order.

Johann
Pachelbel served as organist at the Prediger church in Erfurt.
Pachelbel composed approximately seventy pieces for organ while in
Erfurt. After 1906 the composer Richard Wetz lived in Erfurt and became
the leading person in the town's musical life. His major works were
written here, including three symphonies, a Requiem and a Christmas
Oratorio.

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Erfurt
Theater

Since 2003, the modern new built opera house is home of Theater
Erfurt and its Philharmonic Orchestra. The "grand stage" section
has 800 seats and the "studio stage" can hold 200 spectators. In
September 2005, the opera Waiting for the
Barbarians by Philip Glass premiered in the opera house.
The Erfurt Theater has been source of controversy recently. In 2005
a performance of Humperdinck's opera Hänsel und Gretel
stirred up the local press since the performance contained
suggestions of pedophilia and incest. The opera was advertised in
the program with the addition "for adults only".

On April 12, 2008, a version of Verdi's opera Un ballo
in maschera directed by Johann Kresnik opened at the
Erfurt Theater. The production stirred deep controversy by
featuring nude performers in Mickey Mouse masks dancing on the ruins of
the World
Trade Center and a female singer with a painted on Hitler toothbrush
moustache performing a straight arm Nazi salute, along with sinister portrayals of
American soldiers, Uncle
Sam, and Elvis
Presley impersonators. The director described the production as
a populist critique of modern American society, aimed at showing up
the disparities between rich and poor. The controversy prompted one
local politician to call for locals to boycott the performances,
but this was largely ignored and the premiere was sold out.[3]

Universities

University of Applied
Sciences Erfurt

The University of Applied Sciences Erfurt was
founded on 1991. It is characterised by a combination of scientific
training and its practical applications. In the winter term 2008/09
there studied approximately 4600 students.

Faculties

Faculty of Social Affairs

Faculty of Business, Logistics and Transport

Faculty of Landscape Architecture, Horticulture and
Forestry

Faculty of Architecture

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Conservation/Restoration

Faculty of Building Services Engineering and Computer
Science

University
of Erfurt

The University of Erfurt was founded
on 1994 so it is the youngest public universtity in Germany. It
sees itself in the tradition of the historic University that had
been there as from 1392 to 1816. In the winter term 2008/09 there
studied approximately 4700 students.

By train

By plane

Not the best option for budget travellers. However, Air Berlin
[2] flies to Erfurt airport
from London and other
locations.

Get around

The city centre is quite compact so walking is often the best
way to explore the city. Regular tram services run all around the
city, with service intervals of every 10 minutes during most of the
day. The trams are less frequent in the evenings and no trams
operate after midnight on weekdays.

Erfurt waterfront cafes in winter

Dom (Cathedral) and Severi Kirche (Church) both overlooking the
Domplatz (main market square, location of the Christmas market in
December as well as fairs throughout the year).

Krämerbrücke (Bridge with medieval houses, the most important
landmark in Erfurt)

Fischmarkt with its Burgerhouses and town hall.

Augustinerkloster (monastery where Martin Luther lived), the
main gate of the old university (third oldest German university,
shut down in the 19th century and reopened in 1992)

Anger (main square, full of stores) with the old Post Office
building.

Much of Erfurt's charm is found in its narrow streets, many of
which are pedestrianized, with their beautiful old houses, green
areas and little bridges across the Gera river and the Stadtpark
and the Nordpark on different sides of the city center.

Garden lovers can find many things to do and see in
Egapark[3], which is a huge and
beautiful botanical garden and accessible by Strassenbahn.
Check out for any exhibitions or programmes.

Drink

Erfurt has numerous small bars in the city center. On the
Domplatz there is a tapas bar, which is quite delicious. To the
north of the Domplatz there are more bars, with one of the more
popular bars being Double D's, which has numerous theme nights and
drink specials.

Outside of the city-center is the disco Spot, which is quite
intense and draws a younger crowd.

From LoveToKnow 1911

ERFURT, a city of Germany, in Prussian Saxony, on the Gera, and the railwayHalle-Bebra, about midway between Gotha and Weimar, which are 14 m. distant.
Pop. (1875) 48,025; (1905) 100,065. The city, which is dominated on
the west by the two citadels of Petersbergand Cyriaxburg, is
irregularly built, the only feature in its plan, or want of plan,
being the Friedrich Wilhelmsplatz, a broad open space of irregular
shape abutting on the Petersberg. On the south-western side of this
square, which contains a monument to the elector Frederick CharlesJoseph of Mainz (1719-1802), is the Domberg, an eminence on which stand, side
by side, the cathedral
and the great church of St Severus with its three spires (14th century). The churches are
approached by a flight of forty-eight stone steps, the grouping of
the whole mass of buildings being exceedingly impressive. The
cathedral (Beatae Mariae Virginis) is one of the finest
churches in Germany. It was begun in the 12th century, but the nave was rebuilt in the 13th in the
Gothicstyle. The magnificent chancel (1349-1372), with the 14thcentury crypt below, rests on massive
substructures, known as the Cavate. The twin towers are
set between the chancel and nave. The cathedral contains, besides
fine 15th-century glass, some
very rich portal sculptures and bronze castings, among others the coronation of the Virgin
by PeterVischer. In one of its towers is the famous bell, called Maria Gloriosa, which bears the
date 1497, and weighs 270 cwt. Besides the cathedral and St
Severus, which are Roman Catholic, Erfurt possesses
several very interesting medieval churches, now Evangelical. Among
these may be mentioned the Predigerkirche, dating from the latter
half of the 12th century; the Reglerkirche, a Romanesque building
(restored in 1859) with a 12th-century tower; and the Barfusserkirche, a Gothic building
containing fine 14th-century monuments. All these were originally
monastic churches. Of the former religious houses there survive a
Franciscan convent, with a
girls' school attached, and an Ursuline convent. The Augustinian
monastery, in which Luther lived as a friar, is now used as an orphanage, under the
name of the Martinsstift. The cell of Luther was destroyed by fire in 1872. A
bronze statue of the reformer was erected in the Anger, the chief
street of the town, in 1890. At one time Erfurt had a university,
of which the charter dated from 1392; but it was suppressed in
1816, and its funds devoted to other purposes, among these being
the endowment of an institution founded in 1758 and now called the
royal academy of
sciences, and the support of the royal library, which now contains
60,000 volumes and over loco manuscripts. On the W. and. S. W.
extensive new quarters have grown up within recent years,
e.g. Hirschbruhl. The interior of the town hall
(1869-1875) is adorned with legendary and historical frescoes by
Kampfer and Peter Janssen. Erfurt possesses also a picture gallery
and an antiquarian collection.

The educational establishments of the town include a gymnasium,
a realgymnasium, a realschule, technical schools for building and
handicrafts, a high-class commercial school, a school of agriculture, and an
academy of music. The most
notable industry of Erfurt is the culture of flowers and of
vegetables, which is very extensively carried on. This industry had
its origin in the large gardens attached to the monasteries. It has
also important and growing manufactures of ladies' mantles, boots
and shoes, machines, furniture, woollen goods, musical instruments,
agricultural machinery and implements, leather, tobacco, chemicals, &c. Brewing, bleaching and dyeing are also carried on on a large scale, and
there are extensive railway works and a government rifle factory.

Erfurt (Med. Erpesfurt, Erphorde, Lat.
Erfordia) is a town of great antiquity. Its origin is
obscure, but in 741 it was sufficiently important for St Boniface to found a bishopric
here, which was, however, after the martyrdom of the first bishop, Adolar, in 755,
reabsorbed in that of Mainz. In 805 the place received certain
market rights from the emperorCharlemagne. Later the overlordship was
claimed by the archbishops of Mainz, on the strength of charters
granted by the emperor Otto
I., and their authority in Erfurt was maintained by a burgrave and an
advocatus, the office of the latter becoming in the 12th
century hereditary in the family of the counts of Gleichen. In spite of many
vicissitudes (from 1109 to 1137, for instance, the town was subject
to the landgraves of Thuringia), and of a charter granted in 1242
by the emperor Frederick II., the archbishops succeeded
in upholding their claims. In 1255, however, Archbishop Gerhard I. had to grant the city
municipal rights, the burgraviate disappeared, and Erfurt became
practically a free town. Its power was at its height early in the
,5th century, when it joined the Hanseatic League. It had acquired by
force or purchase various countships and other fiefs in the
neighbourhood, and ruled a considerable territory; and its wealth
was so great that in 1378 it established a university, the first in
Europe that embraced the four
faculties. By the end of the century, however, its prosperity had
sunk owing to the perpetual feud
with Mainz, the internecine war in Saxony, and the consequent
dwindling of trade. By the convention of Amorbach in 1483 the
overlordship of Erfurt was ultimately transferred by the electors of Mainz to Saxony.
The political and religious quarrels of the 16th century still
further depressed the city, in which the reformed religion was
established in 1521. Then came the Thirty Years' War, during which
Erfurt was for a while occupied by the Swedes. After the peace of
Westphalia (1648) the
city was assigned by the emperor to the elector of Mainz, and, on
its refusal to submit, it was placed under the ban of the Empire (1660). In 1664 it was captured
by the troops of the archbishop of Mainz, and remained in the
possession of the electorate till 1802, when it came into the
possession of Prussia. In
1808 it was the scene of the memorable interview between Napoleon and the emperor Alexander I. of Russia, at which the kings of Bavaria, Saxony, Westphalia and Wurttemberg also
assisted, which is known as the congress of Erfurt. Here in 1850
the parliament of the short-lived Prussian Northern Union (known as
the Erfurt parliament) held its sittings. In 1902 the tooth
anniversary of the city's incorporation with Prussia was
celebrated.